AstraZeneca Issued US Patent 7,718,653

Sunnyvale, CA – When the revolutionary Echo® acoustic liquid handler

is used in the process of discovering potential therapeutics, important drug candidates are

identified that are missed using traditional liquid handlers. In a recently issued patent, the global

pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca describes the discovery of a novel set of potential cancer

therapeutics that was found only when the Echo system was used. Other major pharmaceutical

companies have also reported that the Echo liquid handler was a critical platform in discovering

drug candidates.

The Echo system uses acoustic energy to transfer liquids during the drug discovery testing

process, avoiding problems associated with transferring potential drug candidates with pipette

tips. Drug candidates can be lost when pipette tips become clogged or if the candidate sticks to

the tip. Test results can also be compromised by dirty tips or by chemicals leaching from tips.

These errors are compounded when doing dose-response experiments. The Echo system

reduces false negative and false positive results, leading to better identification of potential

therapies.

“Echo systems have been described as revolutionary by our customers, who include all ten of the

top 10 pharmaceutical companies. Our products play a key part of the drug discovery process for

biotech companies, contract research organizations and academic institutions,” said Labcyte

Chief Executive Officer and President, Mark Fischer-Colbrie. “Echo systems increase

productivity, significantly reduce costs and most importantly, generate better results—results that

may lead to new therapies. This path-breaking approach of using sound to move liquids has also

been adopted by customers for qPCR, siRNA testing, tissue-imaging mass spectroscopy, cell

transfers and protein crystallography.”

About Labcyte

Labcyte, a global biotechnology tools company, is revolutionizing liquid handling. Echo liquid

handling platforms use sound for the precise transfer of liquids. The environmentally-friendly

Echo systems generate better results with significantly lower costs when compared to traditional

liquid handling systems that have high running costs, are prone to transfer errors, have risk of

sample contamination and waste large amounts of plastic lab consumables. Labcyte equipment is

used by all 10 of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies, as well as by small to mid-size

pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology firms, contract research organizations and academic

institutions. Our customers work across a wide spectrum of biology including drug discovery;

genomics; proteomics; diagnostics; imaging mass spectrometry and the transfer of live cells.

Labcyte, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, has global sales and support. Labcyte has 41

U.S. and 12 international patents with additional applications pending. For more information, visit

www.labcyte.com.